“Asbestos” Westcott Likes His Bed Warm

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 11

“Asbestos” Westcott Likes His Bed Warm

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, May 1. For 17 years the vaults between two furnaces at a Llanelly steelworks have been a bedroom for Tom (“Asbestos”) Westcott, the “Daily Mail” said today. A few feet above his head hundreds of tons of white hot steel bubble viciously. Often burning metal shoots out like meteors. When the temperature gauge wavers around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, it is just right for 56-year-old “Asbestos.” Below 170 degrees he tends to shiver. Yesterday he was legally deprived of his “home.” Judge Trevor Morgan , granted an injunction restraining him from using his hot bed. He was fined £5 for trespassing. But “Asbestos” did not hear the judge’s verdict. He ignored the order to appear in court and stopped in bed while counsel for the steel company explained that “Asbestos,” apart from trespassing, was in constant danger. Last night “Asbestos” was still there. “It’s hopeless.” said the watchman, Josh Williams. “If I move him out he’ll be back, in half an hour. There’s no wall round the works to stop him. I’m tired of Shifting him.” “Asbestos” once worked in a

tinplate mill. Now he just eats and sleeps in heat. Workmen bring him food. Sometimes he shuffles out in search of it, but he is soon back in the hot spot.